That Dark Silhouette

It feels like eons of ages ago,when I ventured out to meet my doom on an ill fated night.How hard I try,I can't forget that dreadful face of her on that stormy night,it still gives me goosebumps whenever I think of that night.it was one night where my worst dream came alive & strangled me with my own hands. It was the night of December 31st back in 2009 or trans2010,the world was celebrating madly reckoning in the new year & I was stuck in a small hilly village in Kerala. I was working with a leading plantation company as an assistant manager & during the December-January schedule I was assigned to personally go & supervise the factory installation at that station,it was a place called Vandiperiyar adjacent to Kerala-Tamilnadu border,I was used to the hilly terrains of Kerala & my work always took me to strange locales & mind you,not every place in Kerala is tranquil or breathtaking as they say. The place was surrounded by hills,it was damp,humid & at 9000 feet was nothing short of a hellhole,I was provided a British era bungalow atop a hill again,so I had to descend down from my living quarters to my workplace,from uphill to downhill. The workers were disciplined,hardworking & obedient but these were somewhat orthodox if put correctly,they didn't like outsiders. I was more of a wandering outsider to them,they wouldn't listen to me directly,the orders had to be conveyed to them by their own people in Malyali,I had a lifesaver in the form of Mr Stanley Gonzales,who was my assistant & was the head supervisor. He would address the people on my behalf,his English was somewhat proficient & he was very helpful,elder to me but was very much a person who obeyed seniors at work. 

One day I took a stroll in the plantations by myself,wearing my khakis & half pants,signature clothing of a plantation person. It was drizzling a bit but 2 years in these hilly terrains have endured me with these instances,the plantation estate was 700 acres sprawled across 4 adjacent hills & plains,it contained the living quarters for the managers,supervisors,technicians & the homes of the local people & the workers,there were churches,hospitals,schools,shops & small hotels in the estate,the company did a lot for the people under the CSR activities. While I was strolling down the rocky roads,I passed many people,workers,passerby locals,school going children;the workers would look up & salute me but it was more of an obligation than an gesture,I would be greeted with steely cold stares & raised hands than warm salutes. There was this old abandoned church at the end of this wallardie estate of the plantations,where due to some strange reason no people went,it was an old church,apparently british era by its looks,it was burnt to the foundation but I could make out the architecture,that used high tower & used granite instead of limestone,the cross was half bent,charred by the burning but it looked divine high over the cathedral,the mural paintings seen through broken walls,nearby burnt stones & glass were scattered nearby. It was kind of Gothic yet beautiful to look at in the faint twilight. Sunlight was streaming across a the charred broken granite walls as it was setting down over the Wallardie hills.

 I was amazed at the eerie silence of the place & suddenly a flash of lightning blazed in the sky & in that moment I saw a woman,a beautiful woman,she was British or Irish may be,dressed in an red gown,she was in her early thirties & was standing near the wooden church gate with her eyes closed & arms crossed,as if she was waiting for someone,then as the lightning went out,she was not there, I was dumbfounded,then thunder roared to life & a sudden heavy pour came down, I was too shocked to react but then another lightning lit up the sky & I saw her again & I felt like I was going crazy,this time,she was looking at me,arms open,a heartbreaking smile on her face,I was looking at her like a small child & the lightning felt like forever & then I looked in her eyes,the eyes flickered strangely,I was in complete denial with what i saw but when I looked into her eyes,they were hollow sockets,there were no eyes in them,I never believed in things such as Supernatural or Paranormal but in that moment I felt like everything I knew was an illusion or what I was seeing was just a crazed paranoia of some sort but then the lightning faded & thunder rumbled heavily.

I was completely drenched but I didn't know what to do & then I made the stupidest mistake of my life,I walked inside the church to save myself from the lashing of the downpour. The rain was coming down torrentially now,I tried to shove open the heavy wooden door but it didn't budge & then another lightning & the door flew open & I felt a jolt,the next thing I knew I was dragged across the cold damp church floor by some invisible force,it was too sudden & then there was darkness,the next lightning flickered & I was thrown across the church like a paper plane,it was  so forceful & so fast,I couldn't see anything but a flash of red flickering throughout the burnt church building. Then something odd happened,I was dropped on the hard floor with a thud & the lightning died down & thunder rumbled about. I was frozen with shock with what was going on & then suddenly the some kind of form took shape in front of me,it flickered constantly but when it formed itself from its dark silhouette,I saw the woman who stared at me through those hollow sockets of eyes at the church door,the next moment,whoosh,she was sitting in front of me,I was in a trance,watching her with awe & fear,then she stared at me again only this time it hurt like hell.

The next moment,I felt someone strangling me,only it were my own hands which were strangling the very life from my own body,I struggled violently kicking & jabbing away at my own body but the strength in me was nothing compared to the strength that acted against me,I was leviated from the ground,suspended precariously over the mural paintings of the ceiling & then I was jolted angrily, in that splitsecond I saw something flashy other than the lightning,the half broken cross of the church was glowing like a bright bulb in the darkness & I suddenly had a plan,which would either save me or damn me forever,I was leviated about 30 feet above & I tried pusshing towards the cross in that strangled position, I was slowly losing my consciousness but i tried hard & just I was about to touch the cross may be she knew what I was going for,I was swayed from side to side,my hands freed & I was thrashed about midair & when I was almost getting plumetted to the ground, I kicked the air & tried floating towards the cross & got hold of it. The very next moment a lightning struck the cross & I burst,the feeling was of bursting,Millions of volts jolted down the very flesh of mine & everything around me subdued to the impact,I saw a ring of fire around me & the spirit of the woman inside the ring,she was smiling at me & for some strange reason I smiled back at her,then she exploded into a burst of flames,so did I & everything else & the next thing I knew was thunder rumbling & I plummeted down to the floor.

I found myself on the hospital bed,people all around me,looking astonished & concerned at the same time,saw Stanley talking to the doctor & then when he looked at me,he stared at me & ran towards me & started chanting some verse from Bible,when stuttering I asked him about what happened & what was the reason of it,he narrated the incident in his earthy,raspy voice,'It was the year 1930,when Britishers took interest in the plantation estate & posted a young officer,a lieutenant to take charge of the area,the lieutenant was brave & kind,he was newly married & had a beautiful wife,they had a lovely life but the lack of a child made them suffer silently,it made her husband more menacing & cruel to the people & she became an alcoholic. One day the husband was angry on people for some work that wasn't completed in time & he beat the worker black & blue with his whip,making the local people more livid & enraged,a day after the worker succumbed to his injuries. It was the last of his tyranny as the people were mad with rage & attacked his bungalow with spears & torched his bungalow,the officer managed to send his wife to the nearby church by convincing her but stayed back to ask for forgiveness from people but he was killed mercilessly & while she waited for him all night with fear,a heavy rain broke out & a lightning struck the church & the church blazed with her inside,the rain muffled her bloodcurdling screams & the innocent woman was burnt alive. The church was abandoned since then,the people loved their Madam as she was kind & nice to them but her wandering spirit didn't take her husband's death lightly & she started haunting the place & whoever strayed to the church during rains was killed or found a lunatic. The infamous lore was it that she appeared during lightning & roamed the church & any unfortunate passerby was not forgiven & the place was  haunted since. People didn't go over there & a in a strange way no mishaps occurred.

For some strange reason I took a stroll down & being new to the place,I ventured towards the church that fateful night,I only knew what happened & the rest as I heard,the church was destroyed by a massive lightning stroke & I was found unconscious at the rubble without a mark on me,strangely the people thought I was some guardian angel for them & my stay of 2 months became ever pleasant,the only thing today that haunts me are her eyes, I never forgot them.